For the people who have attended class, I have spoken about running and managing a forum for the last 5 years. It is the Lexus IS300, IS250, IS350, IS200, and IS-F online forum. It is the second largest automotive forum for a specific model in the world. We have over 88,000 members and growing rapidly every single day. The board consists of 21 Moderators that run the boards. I am one of them who runs "The Garage" section which is an off-topic place where we can talk about various automobiles and groundbreaking news in the automotive world.
The importance of these websites is to focus on a certain "thing" and discuss the likes and dislikes, while offering informative insights about the specific vehicle. The forum becomes a massive "club" and anything about the car, etc. can be discussed. There are many DIY threads and links to where you can purchase parts for extremely cheap. There are thousands of threads that offer so much information, it would take you days read through everything on just one specific topic of question!
Now, while I do not get paid to participate or manage the website and it's content, I do find enjoyment in reading, messaging, posting, and reading everything there is on the boards. I currently have over 16,000 posts (which average out to roughly 4.55 posts per day since I joined the site). The biggest question I get deal with the fact that I'm not getting paid to put my time and effort into these sites. Although I do not get paid, I enjoy it. Simple as that. The forum was dedicated for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts. That's exactly what I am. I have a passion for the car I own.
This ties in directly to what Scott was describing in the New Rules of Marketing book in the section about understanding your target audience. People join this board not only to read and gain information, but to meet new people and share a common interest. If it weren't for sites like these, we'd be seeing car dealerships lined with unfixed cars! I've saved over thousands of dollars on easy fixes that would've had me pulling hundreds of dollars to fix at the stealer-ships. Although the forum benefits the LEXUS brand in general, it benefits the members to a greater extent because without the site, enthusiasts like myself wouldn't exist.
A very good friend of mine met his wife on a Honda Ridgeline forum...talk about passion!
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you engage in these forums for Lexus with such passion. Scott mentioned in The New Rules book that if you are passionate enough about something then what you have to say will be interesting and will have a huge audience. And it sounds like you have just that. At the moment you are not getting paid for this but maybe sometime soon, Lexus will realize your importance to them and start paying you for your efforts.
ReplyDelete